By Hector Sanchez
The boxer who considers himself to be the best pound for pound fighter in the world had to resort to cheating, and right in front of veteran referee Joe Cortez to get another win on his overrated record. More about that in a minute. Actually, boxing enthusiasts know that the real pound for pound king of the ring is Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.
In what was to be one of the most exciting fights of the year and in front of 14,687 fans at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, the majority of the crowd and the world knew that an injustice had just taken place.
After only three rounds into the fight, which the judge’ scorecards had Mayweather ahead on three rounds, the reality, not a controversy, began at the end of the fourth round. Just as Victor Ortiz was winning the fourth round and as he was landing punches to the face of a worried Mayweather, Ortiz appeared to unintentionally head butt him in the corner of the ring. After several replays it did appear that it may have been intentional, but it was unclear if Mayweather may have been moving his head forward as well.
Right after the head butt, Mayweather began to complain to the referee and the round was momentarily stopped. The referee then instructed the judge’s to take a point away while talking to Ortiz. He then led Ortiz to the middle of the ring and before he actually told the judge’s if they were ready, and not even looking at the fighters, Mayweather sucker punched Ortiz with a left hook. And, after looking at the replay, while Ortiz is appearing to be apologizing to Mayweather and tapping gloves, Mayweather taps his left glove on the shoulder of Ortiz and then throws a very short left hook. The left hook was very short, and that is the only way he could have landed it so quickly. The replay also verifies that Ortiz was still in the process of tapping gloves, which Mayweather took advantage of and then threw the illegal punch. Again, the referee had not even said “box,” or “continue,” he was still looking at the side judge’s instructing them to start the clock. Ortiz is quoted as saying “I took the break by the referee and I obeyed exactly as I was told,” and then, boom, he blindsided me.” Apparently Mayweather figured out that since his punches were not hurting Ortiz, he decided to figure another way to win.
Referee Cortez’ quote of “Time was in, the fighter needed to keep his guard up. Mayweather did nothing illegal,” is incorrect. The video shows otherwise, and he should be reprimanded by boxing officials for having made a mistake in such a mega fight. Yes, you should protect yourself at all times, but because of his mistake, Ortiz had no chance of protecting himself, time was not properly started by Cortez.
As to the overrated undefeated record of Mayweather, these are the facts. No respect to these champions, but the following fights show how much of an advantage he had in these matches. In his last four fights, he had to go twelve rounds to get a split decision against a dehydrated, older, and at the end his career DeLaHoya. And actually that fight should have been a draw. The next opponent was Ricky Hatton, a fighter with a great record, but he fought best at 140 pounds and Mayweather was best at 154. The fight was set at 147, a disadvantage to Hatton. Next is Juan Manuel Marquez, a terrific fighter, but he was 36 years old, slower, much shorter, and had to move up and deal with the weight difference. A mismatch. But the biggest mismatch of all was against Shane Mosley, who was much older, also at the end of his career, and much slower because of his age. And even with that advantage, Mosley almost knocked Mayweather out in the second round, but couldn’t finish the job. Fortunately for Mayweather this didn’t happen against Ortiz, because he certainly would have been knocked out. Mayweather has cleverly found a way to make his record look much better than it is, and at the same time, run away from Manny Pacquiao.
The WBC welterweight champion should still beVictor Ortiz and a rematch should happen as soon as possible.
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